may have to sue a utility company

[Reikon]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Hello I am in Minnesota and i am having an arguement with the electric company.
What happened is a goofy situation.
Me and a couple of friends moved in with our friends brother (its a rental town house).
The friends brother put the electric bill in his name. About 6 months later he moved out but had done 2 things.
1. Put us on a "budget billing" system so there was a remaining balance on the account. This stopped him from being able to transfer the account out of his name until the balance was settled (like $800)0
2. He forgot to make a payment when he left and the months later the account went into default.
So now we are faced with our power being shut off but the responsibility for this was on him and none of our names were on the account. When they tried to collect they contacted our land lord, were given our names as current residence and now without our permission we are being added to an account with a default balance of almost $1000 dollars.
Can i sue them for faulty use of my name and setting up an account i didnt ask for?

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Hello I am in Minnesota and i am having an arguement with the electric company.
What happened is a goofy situation.
Me and a couple of friends moved in with our friends brother (its a rental town house).
The friends brother put the electric bill in his name. About 6 months later he moved out but had done 2 things.
1. Put us on a "budget billing" system so there was a remaining balance on the account. This stopped him from being able to transfer the account out of his name until the balance was settled (like $800)0
2. He forgot to make a payment when he left and the months later the account went into default.
So now we are faced with our power being shut off but the responsibility for this was on him and none of our names were on the account. When they tried to collect they contacted our land lord, were given our names as current residence and now without our permission we are being added to an account with a default balance of almost $1000 dollars.
Can i sue them for faulty use of my name and setting up an account i didnt ask for?

Yes, you can sue. No, you won't be successful.
What you CAN do is pay for the electricity you used

 

[Reikon]

we did pay for the electricity used. In actuallity we payed more to bring this debt down wile we tried to work it out with them but they more or less refused to anything but try to cite their policy 800 times.

 

[Zigner]

we did pay for the electricity used. In actuallity we payed more to bring this debt down wile we tried to work it out with them but they more or less refused to anything but try to cite their policy 800 times.

Then I don't see what you're worried about. What are your damages?

 

[Reikon]

probably about 700 or so still in balance because of his missed payment plus that budget balance. the issue is i dont want my credit affected mainly and ofcourse i kind of need power to work which will be shut off soon if the ENTIRE amount is not given which is not that easy to come up with.

 

[Zigner]

probably about 700 or so still in balance because of his missed payment plus that budget balance. the issue is i dont want my credit affected mainly and ofcourse i kind of need power to work which will be shut off soon if the ENTIRE amount is not given which is not that easy to come up with.

No, that is electricity that YOU used. You said you paid for the electricity you used, but you obviously didn't.

 

[Reikon]

I have to disagree with your view on this.
Budget billing is set up to make you end up paying a more even amount every month rather then usage. Since he moved out we payed OUR USAGE plus. agian he Also MISSED a payment and this balance was there from the origin. Further more the electric company has also refused to transfer the account to us so we were unaware of any delinquent payment.
i fail to see how we could even be remotely held responsible for this.
It would be fine to pay if we were put back on budget billing but and setup like that but they refuse. alot of this is money HE owed not us.
*EDIT* LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR i am not trying to avoid paying a bill. I am trying to save my credit from something that was not my fault and not be liable for something that was completely between two parties, friends brother and the electric company.

 

[Zigner]

I have to disagree with your view on this.
Budget billing is set up to make you end up paying a more even amount every month rather then usage. Since he moved out we payed OUR USAGE plus. agian he Also MISSED a payment and this balance was there from the origin. Further more the electric company has also refused to transfer teh account to us so we were unaware of any delinquent payment.
i fail to see how we could even be remotely held responsible for this.
It would be fine to pay if we were put back on budget billing but and setup like that but they refuse. alot of this is money HE owed not us.

You are missing "gotcha" of "budget-billing". You would pay a level amount each month based on historic usage. Then at the end of the year, they would go back and check the ACTUAL usage and bill for the difference. If you used less electricity, you'd get a refund (probably a credit on the bill.) If you used more electricity, you would be billed the difference.

 

[Reikon]

There is a miss conception here. They dont bill at the end of the year here. They compensate on it the next year cycle or in happenstances would make you pay the balance (say if you wer emoving)
even so Once this happened and was discovered we went on a minnesota cold weather law (so they couldnt shut off the electric so long as we payed an amount till apr. 15). This also removed us from budget billing. We asked at that point what our actual usage was for the month and previous months (which we had more power consumption at) and then decided on a payment amount fixed based off that plus some. I was in contact to get the usage wile we figured this out. not the budget rate. So basically the entirety of winter (with the exception of 2 months) We payed based on usage and even before this the budget billing would occur for winter which is a less power consuming time of the year (since no AC). We were paying for more then our usage the whole time.
Most of this information is really irrelevant. The point is I'd be willing to pay it as we were on a budget to get it balanced out but they refuse to and before when they wouldnt transfer the account now they suddely force us on an account that is delinquent and jeopardize my credit. This cant be legal and i just want to know what can be done. Paying is an option i understand but i dont have 700 plus the current electric and neither do my roomates to just throw at this.

 

[sandyclaus]

I think you're missing the point.

Your friend's brother had the account set up in HIS name, but ALL of the housemates used the electricity.

Your friend chose to use the budget billing option to try and save on the bills. While each payment may have been less than the real balance, the TOTAL bill would end up being worked out at the end of the season (according to your info).

The electric company is charging those who are now occupying the residence that is using the electricity. They are charging based on the usage with all the residents.

You and your roommates need to find a way to pay off that balance.

 

[Reikon]

So basically you are saying we are screwed and that even though one person assumes the responsibility they can try and force it on us for being residence.
I understand their business end but this seems highly illegitimate as there is also no contractual obligation for us and if one assumes responsability for a house hold it should not fall on others.
I may just speak with a lawyer and see what they have to say anyway but i do thank you for your input.